Chapter 1
Chapter 1 Verse 1
1. Paul, Silvanus and Timothy,[1] to the congregation[2] of Thessalonians in God the Father and Sovereign Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Sovereign Jesus Christ.[3]
Chapter 1 Verse 2
2. We always give thanks to God for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers,
Chapter 1 Verse 3
3. continually remembering before our God and Father your work for the Faith and your labor coming from the Love and your perseverance based on the Hope, our Lord Jesus Christ being their source,[4]
Chapter 1 Verse 4
4. knowing as we do, brothers loved by God, that you are chosen.[5]
Chapter 1 Verse 5
5. You see, our Gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit[6] and with complete certainty[7] (of course you know what sort of men we proved to be among you for your sake).[8]
Chapter 1 Verse 6
6. Yes you became imitators of us and of the Lord,[9] having received the Word with the Holy Spirit’s joy,[10] in spite of severe affliction,
Chapter 1 Verse 7
7. so that you became examples[11] to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
Chapter 1 Verse 8
8. That is because the Word of the Lord sounded out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place[12]—your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we do not need to say anything.
Chapter 1 Verse 9
9. They themselves report about you[13] what kind of entrance we had to you,[14] and how you turned to God from idols to be slaves to the living and true God,
Chapter 1 Verse 10
10. and to wait for His Son coming out of the heavens[15] (whom He raised from among the dead)[16]—Jesus, who preserves us from the coming wrath.[17]
Chapter 2
Chapter 2 Verse 1
1. Now you yourselves know, brothers, that our entrance to you did not happen without purpose.
Chapter 2 Verse 2
2. Rather, in spite of having already suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, we made bold in our God to speak to you the Gospel of God, in the face of strong opposition.[1]
Chapter 2 Verse 3
3. Further, our exhortation does not spring from delusion or impurity, nor is it in deception,
Chapter 2 Verse 4
4. but we speak precisely as those who have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel,[2] not so as to please men, but to please the God who evaluates our hearts.[3]
Chapter 2 Verse 5
5. Further, you well know that we never used words to flatter, or to disguise greed (God is witness),
Chapter 2 Verse 6
6. or to seek glory from men (whether from you or from others)[4]—as apostles of Christ[5] we could have been ‘heavy’,
Chapter 2 Verse 7
7. but we were gentle among you, like a nurse[6] cherishing her own children.
Chapter 2 Verse 8
8. Yearning over you in this way, we were well pleased to share with you not only the Gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become dear to us.
Chapter 2 Verse 9
9. Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and exertion, because working night and day, so as not to burden any of you,[7] we proclaimed the Gospel of God to you.
Chapter 2 Verse 10
10. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe;
Chapter 2 Verse 11
11. indeed, you know how we treated each one of you as a father does his own children, exhorting and comforting you,
Chapter 2 Verse 12
12. insisting that you conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.[8]
Chapter 2 Verse 13
13. Another reason we give thanks to God continually is that when you received from us the spoken Word of God, you welcomed it not as the word of men but, as it actually is, the Word of God, which is indeed operative in you who believe.[9]
Chapter 2 Verse 14
14. For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s congregations in Christ Jesus, the ones in Judea,[10] in that you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen that they did from the Jews
Chapter 2 Verse 15
15. (the ones who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, who have persecuted us, who do not please God and are hostile to everybody,[11]
Chapter 2 Verse 16
16. trying to prevent us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved—so as to fill up the measure of their sins. They have received the full impact of the Wrath).[12]
Chapter 2 Verse 17
17. Now we, brothers, having been bereaved of you for a short season (in presence, not in heart), made every effort to see your face, from intense longing.[13]
Chapter 2 Verse 18
18. (We actually tried to come to you—I, Paul, time and again—but Satan thwarted us.)[14]
Chapter 2 Verse 19
19. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Is it not precisely you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus[15] at His coming?[16]
Chapter 2 Verse 20
20. Indeed, you are our glory and our joy.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 Verse 1
1. So when we could not stand it any longer, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone
Chapter 3 Verse 2
2. and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, also our fellow worker[1] in the Gospel of Christ, to confirm you and encourage you concerning your faith,
Chapter 3 Verse 3
3. that no one be unsettled by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this.[2]
Chapter 3 Verse 4
4. For indeed, when we were with you we kept telling you in advance that we were going to be afflicted;[3] just as it happened, in fact, as you know.
Chapter 3 Verse 5
5. Yes, that is why, no longer standing it, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had successfully tempted you[4] and our labor come to be for nothing.
Chapter 3 Verse 6
6. But now that Timothy has come to us from you and brought us glad news of your faith and love, and that you have good memories of us always, longing to see us, just as we also long to see you
Chapter 3 Verse 7
7. —because of this, brothers, in all our affliction and distress we were encouraged about you by your faith;
Chapter 3 Verse 8
8. for now we live, if you are standing firm in the Lord.[5]
Chapter 3 Verse 9
9. With what thankfulness can we repay God for you, for all the joy with which we are rejoicing in the presence of our God because of you;[6]
Chapter 3 Verse 10
10. praying most earnestly night and day, that we may see your face and complete the things lacking in your faith?
Chapter 3 Verse 11
11. Now may our God and Father Himself and our Lord Jesus Christ[7] direct our way to you.
Chapter 3 Verse 12
12. And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love toward each other and toward all, just as we also do toward you,
Chapter 3 Verse 13
13. so as to establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ[8] with all His holy ones.[9]
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 Verse 1
1. Finally then, brothers, we urge and exhort you in the Lord Jesus: as you received from us how you ought to behave and please God,[1] do so even more
Chapter 4 Verse 2
2. —you know what instructions we gave you through Sovereign Jesus.[2]
Chapter 4 Verse 3
3. Now this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you stay away from fornication;[3]
Chapter 4 Verse 4
4. that each of you know how to gain possession of his own ‘vessel’ in sanctification and honor,
Chapter 4 Verse 5
5. not in lustful passion (like the heathen who do not know God);
Chapter 4 Verse 6
6. that no one trespass and defraud his brother in this matter,[4] because the Lord is the avenger of all such behavior,[5] as, indeed, we have already told you and warned you.
Chapter 4 Verse 7
7. Because God did not call us for uncleanness, but by holiness.[6]
Chapter 4 Verse 8
8. So then, the rejecter is not rejecting man, but God, the very One who gave you[7] His Holy Spirit.[8]
Chapter 4 Verse 9
9. Now about brotherly love you do not need to be written to, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another,
Chapter 4 Verse 10
10. because in fact you are doing so toward all the brothers throughout Macedonia.[9] Still, we exhort you to do even more, brothers,
Chapter 4 Verse 11
11. to make it a point to be peaceable and to mind your own business, to work with your hands (as we instructed you),
Chapter 4 Verse 12
12. so that outsiders may be well impressed by your life style, and that you may have no lack.[10]
Chapter 4 Verse 13
13. Now then, brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who have ‘fallen asleep’,[11] so that you do not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
Chapter 4 Verse 14
14. Because since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, just so will God bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.
Chapter 4 Verse 15
15. For this we say to you by a word of the Lord,[12] that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will absolutely not precede those who have fallen asleep;
Chapter 4 Verse 16
16. because the Lord Himself—with a commanding shout,[13] with the archangel’s voice[14] and with God’s trumpet—will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first;
Chapter 4 Verse 17
17. then we who are still alive, who are left, will be snatched up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In precisely this way we will always be with the Lord.[15]
Chapter 4 Verse 18
18. So then, comfort one another with these words.
Chapter 5
Chapter 5 Verse 1
1. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you do not need to be written to,
Chapter 5 Verse 2
2. for you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord comes just like a thief in the night.
Chapter 5 Verse 3
3. For whenever they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction is standing near them, like labor pains to a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.[1]
Chapter 5 Verse 4
4. But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this Day should come upon you like a thief.
Chapter 5 Verse 5
5. You are all sons of light and sons of day; we are not of night, nor of darkness.
Chapter 5 Verse 6
6. So then, let us not sleep,[2] like the rest, but let us stay alert and sober;[3]
Chapter 5 Verse 7
7. because those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night;
Chapter 5 Verse 8
8. but we being of day, let us be sober, putting on a breastplate of faith and love, and a helmet of hope of salvation.[4]
Chapter 5 Verse 9
9. For God did not appoint us to undergo wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,[5]
Chapter 5 Verse 10
10. who died for us so that whether awake or asleep we may live together with Him.[6]
Chapter 5 Verse 11
11. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, as in fact you do.
Chapter 5 Verse 12
12. Now we urge you, brothers, to recognize those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,
Chapter 5 Verse 13
13. and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.
Chapter 5 Verse 14
14. Now we exhort you, brothers: admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, be supportive of the weak, be patient toward all.[7]
Chapter 5 Verse 15
15. See that no one pays back bad for bad to anyone,[8] but always pursue the good, both for one another and for all.[9]
Chapter 5 Verse 16
16. Rejoice always!
Chapter 5 Verse 17
17. Pray continually!
Chapter 5 Verse 18
18. Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.[10]
Chapter 5 Verse 19
19. Do not quench the Spirit![11]
Chapter 5 Verse 20
20. Do not disdain prophesies,
Chapter 5 Verse 21
21. but test everything;[12] hold on to the good.
Chapter 5 Verse 22
22. Keep away from every form of evil![13]
Chapter 5 Verse 23
23. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body[14] be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Chapter 5 Verse 24
24. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.
Chapter 5 Verse 25
25. Brothers, pray for us.
Chapter 5 Verse 26
26. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
Chapter 5 Verse 27
27. I adjure you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the holy brothers.[15]
Chapter 5 Verse 28
28. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.Amen.